Areas

The Lakes: Buying Guide, Prices & Listings

A gated Emirates Living villa and townhouse community bordered by two golf courses, established as one of Emaar's original freehold masterplans.

Highlights

About The Lakes

The Lakes is one of Emaar’s founding Emirates Living villa communities, developed in the early 2000s alongside The Springs, The Meadows, Emirates Hills and Jumeirah Islands as part of Emaar’s original master-planned freehold portfolio along the Al Khail Road corridor. It sits immediately beside Emirates Hills and neighbours The Meadows, positioned between two golf courses — the Address Montgomerie Golf Club and the Emirates Golf Club — a setting that anchors much of the community’s identity and its pricing relative to its Emirates Living neighbours. The Lakes is smaller and more tightly held than The Springs or The Meadows: around 600 villas and townhouses spread across six numbered sub-communities — Hattan, Deema, Maeen, Zulal, Forat and Ghadeer — each arranged around its own stretch of internal lake or golf-course frontage. Like the rest of Emirates Living, the community has been fully built out and trading on the resale market for more than two decades, giving it a deep, DLD-recorded transaction history that buyers can price against with confidence.

The Lakes in a nutshell

A freehold, gated villa and townhouse community squeezed between two of Dubai’s best-known golf courses, with a mature lake-and-garden landscape and one of the smaller unit counts among Emaar’s original Emirates Living communities. It suits buyers who want a quieter, more golf-oriented alternative to The Springs or The Meadows and are comfortable paying a premium for lake or fairway frontage; it is equally well suited to buyers who value being plugged into the wider Emirates Living network, with the schools of The Greens and Emirates Hills, clinics in neighbouring Jumeirah Lake Towers and Dubai Marina’s shopping and dining all within easy reach of the gates. A Fidu agent can shortlist across Emirates Living to match your budget and priorities.

Neighbourhood

Property types and sub-communities

The Lakes offers both villas and townhouses, ranging from 3 to 7 bedrooms, spread across six sub-communities: Hattan, Deema, Maeen, Zulal, Forat and Ghadeer. Bayut’s own popularity data, based on buyer search activity, ranks Maeen, Zulal, Ghadeer, Deema and Forat as the community’s most sought-after clusters. Live listings checked for this guide show villas ranging from roughly 2,230 sq ft (a 3-bedroom in Zulal) up to 5,558 sq ft (a corner unit in Ghadeer), alongside a smaller stock of dedicated townhouses in Zulal and Deema. Hattan sits apart from the other five clusters as the community’s more exclusive, golf-facing enclave, and its homes are the most tightly held of the six — listings there come up less often than in the other five clusters, which is what buyers looking for a scarce, golf-facing address tend to want.

Freehold status — who can buy

The Lakes is registered with the Dubai Land Department as a freehold community, open to all nationalities, under the framework set out in Regulation No. 3 of 2006 and the designations added since — Emirates Living was among the earliest master-communities brought into Dubai’s designated-freehold map. Your Fidu agent will confirm a specific villa’s registration status with you via DLD or the Dubai REST app as part of the purchase process.

Golden Visa eligibility

The property-investor Golden Visa requires a Dubai Land Department valuation of at least AED 2,000,000. The Lakes clears this by a wide margin at every bedroom size: Bayut’s own listings-based averages put even a 2-bedroom villa at roughly AED 5,400,000 — more than double the threshold on a single unit — rising to roughly AED 8,353,000 for a 3-bedroom and AED 20,049,000 for a 5-bedroom. This makes The Lakes one of the more comfortably-qualifying Emirates Living communities for Golden Visa purposes, ahead of both The Springs and, at the smaller end, The Meadows.

Handover and completion status

The Lakes is fully built out and has been for many years — this is not a community with phased handovers or active construction sites. All six sub-communities, their lakes, gardens and The Lakes Club are complete and long-established, which means what you see on a viewing is what you buy, with no phased handover or snagging schedule to wait out.

Sales trends and price per square foot

The Lakes has more than two decades of DLD-recorded trading behind it, and the sharpest read on current pricing comes from community-level index data rather than citywide summaries. Bayut’s own villa price index for The Lakes put the community at AED 2,595 per sq ft in July 2026. At the family end of the market, 3-bed villas rose 1.67% to AED 2,430/sq ft and 4-bed villas rose 3.40% to AED 2,777/sq ft over the year. The larger stock commands more per square foot again: 5-bed villas at AED 3,058/sq ft and 6-bed villas at AED 4,718/sq ft. Separately, Bayut’s own area guide, built from live listings over the trailing 12 months, puts average asking prices at roughly AED 5,400,000 for a 2-bedroom villa, AED 8,353,000 for a 3-bedroom, AED 11,582,000 for a 4-bedroom and AED 20,049,000 for a 5-bedroom. Individual DLD-recorded sales the guide lists as recent examples include a 3-bed villa in Zulal 1 (2,558 sq ft) at AED 6,254,000 on 11 August 2026, a 3-bed villa in Forat (2,881 sq ft) at AED 6,800,000 on 10 August 2026, and a further 3-bed villa in Forat at AED 7,050,000 on 7 August 2026 — individual transactions, not averages, but broadly in line with the listing-based figures above. These averages come from live asking prices; your Fidu agent will pull the current DLD-recorded transaction record for any specific cluster and villa size you are considering.

Rental trends and demand drivers

Bayut’s rent index for The Lakes stood at AED 109 per sq ft in July 2026, up 2.91% over 12 months. By bedroom count, 3-bed villas rented at AED 102/sq ft, 4-bed at AED 112/sq ft (+0.60%), 5-bed at AED 118/sq ft (+4.07%) and 6-bed at AED 170/sq ft (+8.13%) — the larger villas have led rental growth here, with 6-bed stock up more than 8% over the year. The same area guide’s asking-rent table, also listings-based, shows average asking rents of AED 250,000 for a 2-bedroom villa, AED 316,000 for a 3-bedroom, AED 506,000 for a 4-bedroom and AED 660,000 for a 5-bedroom. Recent DLD-recorded rental transactions cited in the same guide include a 5-bed renewal in Maeen 1 (4,125 sq ft) at AED 374,220 on 16 September 2026, a 3-bed renewal in Zulal 2 (2,233 sq ft) at AED 248,000 on 15 September 2026, and a 3-bed renewal in Zulal 1 (2,425 sq ft) at AED 210,000 on 1 September 2026. Demand is driven by families who want a quieter, golf-adjacent villa lifestyle within easy reach of Dubai Marina and Media City, plus the pull of the Emirates Living schools clustered nearby and the low-rise, low-density character of the community itself.

Gross rental yield

Bayut’s own ROI table for The Lakes, based on user search activity over the trailing 12 months rather than confirmed transactions, shows 4.74% on 2-bedroom villas, 4.03% for 3-bed, 3.39% for 4-bed and 3.10% for 5-bed — the smaller units are the community’s income performers, and at 3-bed size The Lakes (4.03%) sits level with The Springs (4.04%). Unit size is the main lever on yield here, so a Fidu agent can match a shortlist to whichever matters more to you, income or space.

Service charges — what you’ll actually pay

Service charges in The Lakes are set per cluster and villa type and are published per property on Mollak, RERA’s official service-charge disclosure platform. For context, Driven Properties’ Service Charge Index puts the general Dubai villa-community band at roughly AED 2–6 per sq ft per year in 2026, against AED 10–30-plus in apartment towers. That charge funds The Lakes Club’s substantial shared amenity base — a 30,000 sq ft clubhouse with a gym, pools, tennis and squash courts and an on-site restaurant. Your Fidu agent will confirm the exact current figure on Mollak for any unit you are considering.

Transport and parking

The Lakes is served by Al Khail Metro Station on the Red Line, roughly a 6-minute drive away, and by the RTA’s F31 bus route at The Lakes Turnoff Bus Stop on First Al Khail Street (D86) — a short walk for residents of the Ghadeer cluster. Each villa comes with dedicated parking for one or two vehicles, and First Al Khail Street and Al Khail Road (E44) put the rest of the city within a straightforward drive.

Schools and nurseries near The Lakes

The Lakes is served by a strong cluster of schools in the neighbouring Emirates Living sub-communities, several of them a short walk or drive from the gates. Regent International School, in The Greens, teaches the UK National Curriculum from age 3 to 18 — Bayut’s own area guide notes that residents of the Hattan 3 and Ghadeer clusters can reach it on foot — and holds a Very Good overall KHDA rating from its most recently published inspection. A campus of Jumeirah International Nursery Dubai (JINS Regent) sits within the Regent International School grounds, catering to children aged 45 days to 3 years. Dubai International Academy, in adjacent Emirates Hills, teaches the full IB continuum and is reported by the school’s own materials and by third-party school-review sites as holding an Outstanding KHDA rating for the 2023–2024 inspection cycle; KHDA publishes current ratings for every Dubai school at web.khda.gov.ae. GEMS Dubai American Academy is also a short drive away.

Amenities, healthcare and everyday services

Choithrams operates a supermarket inside The Lakes itself, with a larger Geant Express about 4 minutes away on First Al Khail Street. The Lakes Club is the community’s central amenity hub — a 30,000 sq ft facility with a gym and aerobic studio, squash, volleyball and tennis courts, a main pool and a baby pool with slide, a small supermarket and the Reform Social & Grill restaurant. For healthcare, residents have three well-known hospitals within a convenient drive — Saudi German Hospital, Al Zahra Hospital and American Hospital Dubai, all cited by Bayut as conveniently close — with clinics in neighbouring Jumeirah Lake Towers covering routine care within about 10 minutes.

Lifestyle

Dining and retail

Reform Social & Grill, inside The Lakes Club, covers casual dining without leaving the community. For a wider selection, Dubai Marina Mall is about 7 to 8 minutes away and Mall of the Emirates around 13 minutes, both reachable via Al Khail Road and Sheikh Zayed Road (E11) — a shorter trip than from some of the more inland Emirates Living communities.

Landmarks and things to do

The Lakes’ defining feature is its position between two golf courses — the Address Montgomerie Golf Club and the Emirates Golf Club, the latter a long-running fixture on the European golf tour calendar. The Lakes Club provides on-site sport and leisure for residents, and Dubai Marina’s waterfront promenade, restaurants and Yacht Club are around 15 minutes away for a change of scene, with Atlantis The Palm about 18 minutes away.

Outdoor space

Each of the six sub-communities carries its own shared pools, landscaped parks, BBQ areas and children’s playgrounds, alongside community-wide sports grounds covering tennis, basketball, squash and football. Villas backing onto the community’s internal lakes or the surrounding golf courses get water or fairway views as part of the setting rather than a separately paid extra.

What to know before you commit

The Lakes sits at the premium end of Emirates Living, and its pricing reflects that position: Bayut’s listings-based averages put a 2-bedroom villa at roughly AED 5,400,000, a level that follows from the community’s scarcity — around 600 homes — and its double golf-course frontage. Buyers working to a lower entry point in Emirates Living have The Springs as an alternative, and a Fidu agent can shortlist across both. Schooling is handled by the neighbouring Emirates Living campuses, with Regent International School walkable from the Hattan 3 and Ghadeer clusters. Al Khail Metro Station on the Red Line is about six minutes away by car, with Al Khail Road (E44) giving direct access to Dubai Marina, Media City and the wider city.

Location

How The Lakes compares to The Springs and The Meadows

The Springs is the more affordable Emirates Living comparison: more than 4,800 semi-detached and terraced townhouses across 15 sub-communities, two to four bedrooms only, priced at roughly AED 2,200 per sq ft (up 7.84% over 12 months, per Bayut’s own price index) — the most accessible per-square-foot entry of the three, with Dubai British School inside the gates. The Meadows is the closer comparison on bedroom range and villa scale: more than 1,800 villas across nine sub-communities, three to seven bedrooms like The Lakes, priced at AED 2,889 per sq ft (up 7.47% over 12 months) and backing onto the Montgomerie Golf Club, with Emirates International School – Meadows inside the community itself — a larger villa count set against The Lakes’ scarcer, more tightly held stock. Choose The Springs for the most accessible entry price and an on-site British school; choose The Meadows for a larger villa count and an on-site IB school; choose The Lakes for the tightest golf-and-lake setting of the three — bordered by two golf courses rather than one — and the scarcest stock of the three, with the Emirates Living school network a short walk or drive from the gates.

Getting to and from The Lakes

The Lakes sits off First Al Khail Street, with Al Khail Road (E44) beyond it giving direct access to Dubai Media City and Dubai Marina, about 11 minutes away along with Palm Jumeirah. Dubai International Airport is roughly a 30-minute drive. Al Khail Metro Station on the Red Line is about 6 minutes away by car, and the F31 bus serves The Lakes Turnoff Bus Stop on First Al Khail Street for residents who prefer public transport. With Al Khail Road on the doorstep and dedicated parking at every villa, driving is quick and straightforward from any of the six clusters.

Is The Lakes a good investment?

The case for The Lakes rests on a scarce, golf-course-bordered position within Emaar’s original Emirates Living portfolio — around 600 homes at a genuinely established address with more than two decades of DLD-recorded resale history behind it. Yields cluster between 3.10% and 4.74% depending on unit size, with smaller villas outperforming larger ones on both yield and recent price movement. Buyers chasing income should look closely at 2- and 3-bedroom units, where yields are strongest; buyers after a long-hold golf-and-lake address will find the larger 5- and 6-bed villas among the community’s most substantial homes. Your Fidu agent can arrange a current DLD-verified valuation for the specific cluster and villa size you are considering.

FAQs about The Lakes

Is The Lakes freehold?

Yes — registered as a freehold community under the Regulation No. 3 of 2006 framework and the designations added since, open to all nationalities.

Does it have a Metro station?

Al Khail Metro Station on the Red Line is about a 6-minute drive away, and the F31 bus serves The Lakes Turnoff Bus Stop on First Al Khail Street.

Are there schools in The Lakes?

The community is served by the Emirates Living school cluster next door. Regent International School (Very Good, KHDA) sits in neighbouring The Greens and is walkable from the Hattan 3 and Ghadeer clusters; Dubai International Academy, reported as Outstanding for the 2023–2024 cycle, is a short drive away in Emirates Hills, and GEMS Dubai American Academy is also close by.

What are service charges like?

They are set per cluster and villa type and published per property on Mollak, RERA’s official platform; the general Dubai villa-community band runs roughly AED 2–6 per sq ft per year (Driven Properties Service Charge Index, 2026). Your Fidu agent will confirm the exact figure for any unit you are considering.

Is it still under construction?

No — The Lakes has been fully built out for many years, with no active development inside the community.

What does a 3-bed villa cost in The Lakes?

Bayut’s listings-based average is around AED 8,353,000 to buy or AED 316,000 a year to rent, as of mid-2026 — asking prices from live listings; your Fidu agent can pull the current DLD transaction record for a specific cluster.

Sources and methodology

Figures on this page are drawn from Bayut’s community-level indices and area guide for The Lakes rather than the citywide Dubai Sales Market Report H1 2026, which covers a set of larger or higher-profile communities — bayut.com/mybayut/dubai-sales-market-report-h1-2026. Price-per-square-foot and rent-per-square-foot index figures, and their 12-month changes: Bayut’s own villa price and rent indices for The Lakes, reference period July 2026, accessed 13 Aug 2026 — bayut.com/index/sale-prices-villas-the-lakes and bayut.com/index/rent-prices-villas-the-lakes. Average asking-price and asking-rent tables, the ROI/yield table, and individual recent sale and rental transactions (sourced from DLD records and cleaned of outliers by Bayut): Bayut’s The Lakes Dubai area guide, live listings and search activity over the trailing 12 months, accessed 13 Aug 2026 — bayut.com/area-guides/the-lakes. Comparison figures for The Springs and The Meadows are drawn from the same Bayut price indices and area guides for those communities, same access date — bayut.com/index/sale-prices-villas-the-springs, bayut.com/index/sale-prices-villas-the-meadows, bayut.com/area-guides/the-springs and bayut.com/area-guides/the-meadows.

Freehold status: Regulation No. 3 of 2006, Dubai Land & Property Department — dlp.dubai.gov.ae.
Golden Visa threshold: AED 2,000,000 DLD property valuation threshold.
Schools: Regent International School’s own published KHDA outcome (Very Good, most recently published inspection cycle), cross-checked against the same rating used in Fidu’s The Springs guide — khda.gov.ae, accessed 13 Aug 2026. Dubai International Academy’s Outstanding rating (2023–2024 cycle) is cited by the school’s own materials and by third-party school-review sites (including edcare.ae and schoolscompared.com); KHDA publishes current ratings for every Dubai school at khda.gov.ae.
Service charges: Driven Properties Service Charge Index, 2026, for the general Dubai villa-community band — drivenproperties.com. Exact per-villa rates are published on Mollak, RERA’s official platform, and a Fidu agent will retrieve the current figure for any specific unit.
Transport, amenities, healthcare and community facilities: Bayut’s The Lakes Dubai area guide, accessed 13 Aug 2026 — bayut.com/area-guides/the-lakes.